Albany Housing Authority names new CEO

ALBANY — The interim CEO of the Albany Housing Authority told The Albany Herald late Tuesday afternoon that the organization has selected a new CEO.

Interim CEO Eric Mosley said the AHA has entered into an agreement with William F. Myles to become the organization’s new CEO.

“Mr. Myles is coming to us from Philadelphia,” Mosley wrote in a message to the newspaper. “Mr. Myles’ current job is Executive Vice President of Community Operations and Resident Development with Philadelphia Housing Authority. Mr. Myles start date with Albany Housing Authority will be July 30, 2018.”

Mosley said last week that, following the sudden death of the previous CEO for the AHA, the agency was in the final stages of naming a new one. Face-to-face interviews were conducted Thursday with two candidates, which was to lead to an offer being made to the individual deemed to be the better-suited candidate — who was to be given an opportunity to provide a 30- to 45-day notice to their current employer.

One of the candidates was Chad Cooper, director of operations for the LaGrange Housing Authority. Mosley said last week that the other candidate was contacted for permission to release his name, but that information was not available by The Herald’s press time on Wednesday.

The pool began with 13 candidates, from which telephone interviews subsequently narrowed the field to seven, three and then two.

“This has been a long, drawn-out process,” the interim CEO said last week. “(We want to find) the right candidate for the city and for the citizens of Albany. I feel good about these candidates because they are eager to come here.”

The prior CEO, Roman Velasquez, died suddenly in November of last year after suffering complications from surgery he’d had roughly a week earlier. Velasquez had assumed the position seven months earlier following the retirement of Dan McCarthy, who had been with the AHA for 33 years.

At the time of Velasquez’s death, the AHA staff was called on to pitch in and lead the organization until a new CEO could be named. A search committee was formed after the the first of the year to find a successor for Velasquez.

Jennifer Parks